


Same Monster

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 08:04:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17076521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After returning to Earth, Bruce goes to visit his cousin when a case brings her to New York City. It doesn't go as planned.Or, the one where Jennifer Walters becomes She-Hulk, Bruce feels guilty, and Thor is a good boyfriend.





	Same Monster

**Author's Note:**

> hello all! here's a little speculation on how jennifer might be introduced in the mcu  
> once again, we're playing fast and loose with canon! in this fic, there was no ultron, no civil war, and no infinity war, but bruce did wind up in space somehow, don't think too hard about it. jennifer's canon? don't know her.  
> there is mentions of bruce's mental health struggles and a mention of his suicide attempt but this is all in passing, not in depth, as this is mostly from thor's POV. discusses the comics version of jennifer's origin story, so watch out for minor mentions of gun violence as well. 
> 
> all my love to holly and amy who validated me through writing this.

When Thor finds Bruce, he’s sitting at the kitchen island in the common area, with his elbows propped up on the counter, and his head in his hands. His fingers are tangled in his hair, the strands that aren’t clutched in a death grip standing out from his head in an unruly fashion. Thor is concerned, but not overly so. Maybe Bruce is just stressed about catching up on all that they’ve missed over the past two years. Maybe he’s stuck on some problem with whatever experiment he’s just begun. Maybe he’s just tired. 

And then Thor catches sight of the look on Bruce’s face, and he remembers that Bruce is supposed to be in New York City visiting his cousin, who is meant to be on the east coast on business. Bruce had said that his cousin had been brought to New York for a case, and that since he hadn’t seen her since before he became the Hulk, he wanted to take a trip to the city for a few days to spend what time he could with her. Thor had stayed behind, not wanting to intrude on whatever time the cousins had together, and had thought nothing more of it. Now though, he’s wondering if he should have worried. 

Bruce looks like someone’s died. 

Thor reaches out hesitantly to place a hand on Bruce’s shoulder, and Bruce flinches away so violently that he nearly topples out of his chair. 

“What happened?” Thor asks softly, by way of greeting, because Bruce looks distraught and he was supposed to be in New York City for two more days, at least, and it’s clear that something is wrong. 

Bruce just stares at some invisible spot on the counter and, almost inaudibly, says, “Jen got shot.”

Thor is struck silent for a beat, and then two, three, four. He has no idea how to respond to that for a moment, and he longs to reach out and provide some physical comfort, the way he knows comfort best, but he doesn’t want to upset Bruce even further. He settles for taking the seat beside Bruce and waiting for him to elaborate. He doesn’t prod, simply sits in silent support, until Bruce can bring himself to tell Thor more about what happened. 

The silence stretches for miles between them, before Bruce snaps them back together when he breaks it. 

“Jen got shot, while we were leaving the courthouse to go get lunch. It was some guys who could get in trouble because of the man she’s defending. She got shot and she was bleeding out, and the ambulance just wasn’t getting there in time and I know we’re the same blood type, so I gave her a transfusion. I wasn’t thinking, I didn’t think, I can’t believe I was so  _ stupid _ , I just gave her a transfusion like I wasn’t…  _ god _ .” Bruce’s voice is absolutely dripping in self-hatred. His words and laced with anger and pain and Thor can’t stand the man he loves sounding like that. It grates on him, but he doesn’t push that particular subject quite yet. 

Instead, Thor opts for a quiet, “Is Jennifer okay?”

Rather than answering, Bruce lets out a near hysterical little burst of laughter, and his hands tinge ever so slightly green. 

“Bruce,” Thor prompts, gently, placing his hands over Bruce’s and carefully extracting them from his hair. 

“She’s alive. But okay? I don’t know about that.”

“Why are you back here, then, if she is recovering? Should you not be by her side?” 

Bruce shakes his head. “I’m back her so I can set up a recovery room here. We have the medical staff and it’s safer to have her here. As soon as they’re sure she’s stable, she’ll be transported here.”

That spikes Thor’s curiosity. “Why is that? She is human, is she not? Is she not more suited to a standard medical establishment?”

When Bruce speaks again, it’s so quiet that Thor has to strain to hear it, and even then he nearly misses it. “She’s not human anymore. I made her a monster.”

Thor freezes. “What do you mean?”

“The reason I’m the Hulk,” Bruce says, twisting one hand into his hair again, “is because of the gamma radiation in my blood. I tried to… I was a part of a team that was trying to recreate the serum that made Steve the way he is now. So many things went wrong and I turned myself into this thing. It’s in my blood. There’s probably enough radiation contained in my body to kill an elephant at any given time. I hurt so many people, I got so low when I didn’t have real control over the Other Guy that I tried to kill myself, Thor, and I just went and turned Jen into the same monster I am.” Bruce sighs. “Someone came after her again, after she was admitted to the hospital, and she woke up and tore through a half dozen empty rooms in the hospital before I could get her calmed down. Big and green and completely out of control. Just like me.”

Oh. 

Oh no.

Thor gets it now, gets why Bruce is so distraught, why his cousin has to be brought to the Avengers compound, rather than staying at a civilian hospital, why Bruce looks like someone’s died. 

Thor opens his mouth and is about to say something to try to reassure Bruce when Bruce’s phone ringing cuts through the uneasy silence in the air, startling them both. He answers it without even looking at the number, and has a very brief exchange with whoever is on the other end of the line, consisting mostly of “yes”, “no”, and “thank you”, for his part. 

When he hangs up, he’s takes a long, deep breath, and slides his phone into his pocket. “Jennifer’s stable. They’re going to set her up for transport to get her here by tonight. I’ve got to go make sure that Dr. Cho doesn’t need anything else.”

Before Thor can even say a parting word, Bruce is gone, off to make the final preparations with Helen, to make sure they’re ready for Jennifer. 

~*~

There are newspapers calling Jennifer Walters, Esq. “She-Hulk” before half of the Avengers even know the full situation. News really does circulate quickly on this planet, Thor thinks.  

By the time they’ve gotten everyone up to date, Jennifer is being settled into the medical suite they’ve set up for her, and Bruce’s skin has taken on a semi-permanent sickly green hue. Thor manages to convince him to eat something, but can’t get him to do much else. 

Bruce sits at Jennifer’s bedside, keeping a silent vigil. He shrugs off every attempt at any sort of comfort, from Thor, Steve, Clint. He doesn’t speak, he doesn’t move, and he barely sleeps and he keeps his hands clasped together so hard that Thor thinks he might break his own fingers. 

But he doesn’t say anything. He lets Bruce sit at his cousin’s side, and he lets him have some time to process before he makes his attempts to reassure Bruce that this is not his fault. He did what he needed to do to save Jennifer’s life, and Thor is certain if she cares for Bruce the same as Bruce cares for her, she will not hold this against him, regardless of her feelings about her newfound green alter ego. 

~*~

She-Hulk is trending on Twitter when Thor exits Jennifer’s room after the third round of trying to convince Bruce to take a break to eat or sleep or shower or something that isn’t ‘stare at Jennifer like she’s dying’. 

Clint tells him this fact with a solemn face, and shows him a brief clip that someone had posted, that has already gone viral, of Jennifer rampaging through the hospital she’d first been admitted to. It’s accompanied by many comments, some positive things, about the need for female superheroes to inspire little girls, and some not so kind, about the need for the government to better collar their monsters. It makes Thor’s skin crawl and he has to hand the phone back to Clint before he shatters it. 

“People are always afraid of things they don’t understand. Bruce and Jen? They’re out of some people’s grasps. And when people get afraid, they get mean. Don’t think too much of it, I just wanted you to know, so that it wouldn’t take you or Bruce by surprise. Pepper’s gonna make a statement to the press soon on behalf of the Avengers. She also says that we should get a real PR rep. But I think that’s a Tony problem. I’ll talk to him about it. Go take a nap. I’ll go sit with Brucie boy for a bit,” Clint says, and as quickly as he’d appeared, he disappears, ducking out of the hall and into the medical suite. 

Thor had only been stepping out to get a glass of water, but now that he thinks of it, he hasn’t slept in a while. He silently thanks Clint for the brief reprieve and returns to his quarters to rest a little before he returns to Bruce’s side. 

~*~

They still haven’t finished their conversation from earlier. It’s been three days since Jennifer arrived at the compound, and Thor still hasn’t found the proper opportunity to address the guilt he knows his boyfriend is definitely harboring. But with Helen Cho and the other nurses constantly filtering in and out of Jennifer’s room, Thor hasn’t had the time to truly bring it up. He needs to let Bruce know that he does not think of either side of him as a monster. He needs to make sure that guilt isn’t eating Bruce alive. But he also needs privacy to do that, and there is not a lot of privacy in Jennifer’s room, and Bruce does not seem very keen on leaving there any time soon. 

Less than ideal.

~*~

When Thor does finally get Bruce to leave the room, it has been nearly four days since Jennifer arrived, and Bruce has not really eaten, slept or showered in those four days, and it is getting, quite frankly, gross. So he forces Bruce to go back to his suite in the residential wing of the compound to shower and get a fresh change of clothes and take a nap for at least an hour or two. 

Thor promises that he will stay by Jennifer’s side the entire time. She’s sedated for the time being, while they determine if she’s stable, both her wound and the new found gamma saturated blood in her veins, so Thor doesn’t think she’ll be doing much of anything, but he intends to stay at her side either way. 

~*~

It turns out for the best, actually, that Thor stayed. 

Not even an hour after Bruce leaves, Jennifer stirs, and her eyes flutter open. Thor almost doesn’t notice at first, but as her eyes dart around the room, wide and fearful, Thor takes notice, and is quick to page Helen. 

“Jennifer Walters, you are safe here,” he assures, quiet, but firm. “I am Thor Odinson, I have taken watch over you while your cousin rests.” 

It takes a few tries, but Jennifer finally gets out, “Thor? Bruce’s boyfriend?” Her voice is harsh with disuse and Thor can see from her expression that speaking isn’t exactly comfortable. 

He nods a yes to her question as he reaches for the glass of water at her bedside and helps her take a few small sips. “Dr. Cho is on her way. You were meant to be sedated until they were certain you were in stable condition, what with your wound and the sudden change in your physiology, but you must have burned through the sedative. You’re at the Avengers compound right now, in the medical wing. You’re safe here,” Thor repeats, and as he watches, some of the tension leaves Jennifer’s body. 

She nods once, and opens her mouth to speak, and coughs instead, rubbing at her throat as the fit subsides. Helen enters the room then, and Thor sits by quietly, letting the doctor ask her questions to ensure that Jennifer is alright. She stops administering the sedative to Jennifer, in the end, and leaves, giving instructions to call her if anything feel even the slightest bit off. Jennifer thanks her, and turns back to Thor. 

“Where’s Bruce?” she asks, though it’s more of a demand than a question. 

“Resting. Bruce has been vigilant in his watching over you since you arrived four days ago. I finally convinced him to go get some proper rest. I didn’t think you’d be waking so soon.” 

Jennifer nods once. “Good. He’s never been good at knowing his limits like that. I’m glad you look out for him.”

“I do my best. I care for your cousin a great deal. It saddens me to see him so guilt-ridden.”

“What do you mean?” 

The veins in Jennifer’s hands and neck flash green, crawling up her wrists and creeping up her jaw. 

Thor stills. “Bruce, he,” Thor starts, and he has to pause for a moment. “Bruce is feeling guilty about your current predicament,” he says finally, with a small gesture at Jennifer’s hands. 

When she glances down, her eyes go wide in surprise. 

“Oh,” she says, very quietly. The green only climbs further up her arms. “I don’t know how to stop this.”

Thor smiles, and places a hand over one of hers very gently. “It is a part of you now. You must accept it first, and that is where learning to control anything begins. True control will come with time. For now, just breathe deeply, and do your best to relax, and I’ll have JARVIS send for Bruce when he wakes. He’ll be able to help you better than I can.”

“Maybe I’ll be able to convince him that I don’t resent him for this, then, too.”

Thor’s grin widens. The green disappears from Jennifer’s neck. 

“I’m glad to hear that.” 

Jennifer shakes her head. “I love Bruce. He’s one of my best friends. Maybe I don’t like what’s happening, but he saved my life. How could I be mad at him for that?”

~*~

An hour later finds Jennifer repeating herself to a sleep-mussed Bruce, whose eyes widen in shock as she speaks. 

“You’re not--but how could--” Bruce cuts himself off and rounds on Thor. “And you! How are you not-- I mean--”

Thor takes one of Bruce’s hands, tracing the green tinted veins running towards his wrists with a soft touch. 

“You’re not a monster, my love,” Thor says, his voice impossibly affectionate. “You did what you had to do to save your cousin’s life. She is grateful she is still living.”

“I may have to adjust to some new circumstances, now, but I could never hate you for this Bruce. You saved me. Besides, if you’re a monster, that means I am too. Would you call me a monster?”

Bruce shakes his head, “No, Jen, you’re not, I’d never--” 

“Then I suppose that’s settled,” she cuts him off, a satisfied smile on her face. 

Some of the tension bleeds out of Bruce then, and his hand relaxes in Thor’s. He’s still got a grimace on his face, but he doesn’t seem so upset anymore, having heard this from Jennifer and Thor both. 

It’s not a perfect fix, quite yet, but it’s a start, Thor thinks, and when Jennifer looks Bruce dead in the eyes and says, “As soon as I’m up and walking, can I expect you’ll help me learn how to be a Hulk?”, Thor can’t help but smile. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> feedback required to feed the author motivation machine.
> 
> on tumblr @ [ishuri](http://ishuri.tumblr.com/)


End file.
